We Are Brothers
by KohaiINaCan
Summary: <html><head></head>The Alternative. A practice of alchemy that not much dared attempt. What will happen when Ed is just desperate enough to use it? (A short Fullmetal Alchemist story. NOT ELRICEST. It is a story about Ed and Al, but it is not a shipping between them. WinRed is the ship I go with.)</html>
1. Chapter 1

"_On that day, we burned down our house, and all the familiar things inside. Because some memories, are not meant to leave traces." ~Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**Is the pain worth forgetting?**

Chapter One: Dull

"How's Ed doing?" Winry asks nervously, wringing her mechanically skilled hands together obsessively. "Has he been taking care of his automail? Has he even moved around much at all?"

Alphonse stares at the poor girl, studying her sad blue eyes carefully. He decided that it would be kinder to just lie. So, he said; "Brother is getting better." A small crack reaches his voice, as he saw Winry's eyes light up again. If he could cry, and be physically seen doing so, he'd be in some serious trouble a this time.

_How could I just lie to her like that?_ He thinks to himself sadly. It hurt for him to lie, because naturally, he was quite the goody-goody (as some would call it).

"I do hope he's up again soon," Winry states, with much more enthusiasm and eagerness than the tone she previously took on. As if that one lie, was her only hope. Of course, in times like these, it very well could be. "He's been sulking in that room of his for far too long." She sighs sadly, blue eyes casting their gaze half-heartedly out the window. "He didn't even come with you to visit."

"I know, I'm sorry," Alphonse bows, large armored pieces clanking together with a subtle sort of sound. "He doesn't even research with me anymore." Winry's eyes immediately narrow at the sound of that with suspicion, causing Alphonse to scold himself harshly.

_Gah! I just told her Brother was ok! She's gonna figure it out... I'm such an idiot..._

"Alphonse," Winry says shakily, eyes shielded by her blonde bangs. "You're not telling me the truth." Suddenly, she brings up her wrench-weapon and smacks it against the unfeeling metallic suit, not holding back one bit. "**You said you'd look after him!**"

Alphonse was shocked at the sound of this. He was being blamed for his brother's downward spiral; that much he could make out. It wasn't fair, no matter how you looked at it. He blamed himself enough as it is.

"Winry, I-" Al begins to explain, trying his hardest to keep a steady composure. Winry's grief cut him off, though. He shrinks back.

"**I can't believe you'd let him slip away like that!**" The mechanic was already in tears. Alphonse was crying, too, though you'd never be able to tell. The difference between the two of them, was that Winry had tears to shed. "You don't understand, Alphonse... I _loved _him."

Al stares at his feet silently, and Winry falls to her knees. Tears drip on to the floor. She was crying her heart out, but Alphonse was rendered speechless. Winry's bright blue eyes were sparkling with remorse. Tears were not the only differences here.

For back at Central, Edward's eyes were dull. Like he couldn't see anything but the past.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: What I see Here, and What's Not There

_Hazy._

_Blurred._

_Purple eyes glow through the darkness, the surrounding fog rendering seeing anything else impossible. Another reminder of what's been ignored. What laws that should have been followed. What could have ended in a simple child's curiosity._

_**Could have.**_

"Brother." Alphonse's youthful voice breaks through the barrier of his brother's dark thoughts, causing the blonde boy to return to reality, and to turn away from the window slowly. "Brother, you need to eat," Al fusses, setting a plate laden with food in front of Ed. When Ed does not acknowledge the food, Al gets frustrated.

"Brother!" he scolds, raising his voice only slightly. "Your body needs nourishment, and if you don't eat, you're going to-"

"Ever wish we could turn back time, Al?" Edward interrupts, voice soft and slightly hoarse from having not been used in so long. Alphonse, being slightly surprised, was totally lost.

"Huh?"

Edward, howerver, soon went back into his hazy world of depression. Alphonse was getting impatient, being ignored that way. It didn't take long for that impatience, to slide into anger. Overdue, and bottled up inside him for so long. He wanted to scream, and scream, and scream, until Edward would finally hear him.

"Brother, stop!" he yells, suddenly unable to take it anymore. "Are you forgetting that you have a **brother?!** Supporters?! **Someone who is always waiting for you?!"** Edward just remained slumped in his chair. Alhonse balls his fists up; something he's done ever since he was little. But, he dared not say any more.

Oh, how we all thought Edward could hold out longer. It only took a few years from the day 'it' happened, for him to go insane from grief. He saw the worst in the world. Things that were not here anymore, yet were now Edward's entire outlook.

"_To regret the past would mean never moving forward." ~Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**How important is your own happiness?**


	3. Chapter 3

"_Please, just come back home..." ~Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**There are some people waiting for you, you know.**

Chapter Three: Sweet Relief

Alphonse was always cautious while talking to his brother, for he always stook other people's feelings into consideration before ever doing so for himself. This resulted in his more shy, quiet nature. It also resulted in a volcano of over-flowing emotion, built up throughout the years.

So what did he really think, you ask? He thought that his brother was beginning to act like their no-good excuse for a father, Hoenheim, the man who left them so long ago. The man who left his own wife to die.

Al knew that Ed would be extremely upset if he said anything to him. Which, of course, was why he was considering doing so. Maybe, if Ed was upset enough, he'd snap out of whatever hazy world he was living in at last.

Only problem, of course, was fear. Fear always tied down a person. Made them crate their own 'demons.' Alphonse's demons nipped in the back of his mind constantly, making him always fight against his own self. An internal battle.

_I'll keep it in mind, _he thinks, deciding within his mind as if talking to himself. Yes, he talks to himself. Since his brother hardly acknowledges him any more, it was the borderline of loneliness. Could you judge a poor soul like that? _It make be far too reckless of me... I just dunno if it's the only thing, that will get my brother back._

Alphonse hears the familiar sound of footsteps on the hard, wooden floor. An uneven pattern, so recognizable that he was able to manage to hide his journal in time, even as they merely got closer within earshot.

_Metal_

_Human_

_Metal_

_Human_

_Metal..._

An abrupt stop told Al that his brother had arrived. Of course, there stood Edward, standing at the doorframe and being completely dwarfed.

"Bro-" Alphonse begins to exclaim, but Edward immediately walks in the room without a word. A ghost of the boy he used to be, basically. Alphonse didn't have much of a warning before his brother snatched the personal journal from beneath the bed. He was already reading each of Alphonse's most inner thoughts.

"Brother!" Al was naturally panicked, so he tries to make a grab for the book. Ed moves, so as to prevent the owner of the jounral from attaining it. Al was scared. Especially because he had written certain things in it. When Edward's eyes darken, as he read what Al was afraid of him finding out, Alphonse quickly grabs his book back.

"You really believe... that I'm turning into _him?"_ The boy's voice was broken beyond recognition, and Alphonse stares at his own clenched fists.

_I hurt him._

"You d-don't even acknowledge me anymore," Al cries, voice thick and blubbering with his tears of invisibility.

"You really think it's coming down to that?" Edward continued to preach to himself, not even hearing what his younger brother was trying to tell him. Something about him seemed to have died. The last living part of his soul. "You really do think I've become a sorry excuse?"

_Yes, _Al thinks to himself in reply, bitter and upset. Though, he'd never say this aloud. _You've become a sorry excuse for a brother. _Of course, he would never say this aloud. But Edward knew his brother well, and could understand what was unspoken. He turns away without another word.

"Sometimes, all I want to do is forget." And with that, he glides out of the room with any other exchange. Alphonse just stood there, shocked. He couldn't do anything anymore, and that was the awful truth.

It was clear to anyone, that Ed had clearly chosen blissful ignorance, over the only family he had left.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Have you Forgotten?

Edward hasn't been seen at all around the apartment, so Alphonse was extremely worried. His brother never usually left the house, yet, Al hasn't seen him since their small moment of discord.

The phone rings shrilly about the otherwise deserted arpartment, in which Alphonse siezes frantically. "**Hello?!**" he shrieks, small voice much more high-pitched than usual. The voice on the other line was deep, and authoritive. Mustang, of course.

"Alphonse Elric. We've found your brother on the streets alone, and have brought him to our HQ. Would you wish to come and get him?" Al did not understand why they had to ask him, espeically Mustang. He knew that Alphonse would not hesitate to get his brother.

"**Yes!**" the Armor Boy screams, in which he earned muffled sounds of complaint on the other end of the line. Something about having their ears murdered by a stupid tin can, or whatever. Al was much too in suspense to take any offense.

"Cal down, would ya?" Mustang sounded a bit dissheveled, even over the phone. "There's just a little... problem." Al's heart sank, even as he stood, listening. This couldn't be good. "You se... well, maybe you should head over to HQ to chat about this."

"...right." And that was where the phones were hung up. Alphonse could feel the mounting anxiety, and was obviously beginning to be in distress. He glances out the window, and groans loudly. It was raining. Hard.

Grabbing an umbrella hastily, and fumbling, Al barrels outside and opens the umbrella. Sloshing through puddles, and being extremely careful not to wet his blood seal. He ran on. Of course, on his way, he just had to encounter a freezing kitten.

"Nooo I can't leave the kitty!" Al whines, debating with himself. "B-but... brother may be too important... **Ahh what do I do?!**" As you can see, cats are extremely important and a huge deal to Alphonse Elric.

However, he decided to run all the way to HQ. It was a hard decision, but family barely beat cats.

Al reaches Mustang's office with a frantic disposition, and rushes in the heated room. The weary Colonel looks up from his paperwork, and upon seeing Al, something darkens in his already coal-black eyes. Al glances over at the couches, and freaks out as soon as he saw his brother. Just looking around, as if he were a child in a whole new place.

"Al, don't-" Mustang begins, trying to start explaining, but Alphonse did not hesitate to scold his brother. He was angry at how much worry he had caused him. He'd had enough of this depressed attitude of Ed's.

"**Brother!**" he yells angrily. "**Why the heck would you run away like that?! And you wonder why I think you're acting just like **_**him!**_"

Edward stares blankly at the armored boy, seeming to have not soaked up one ounce of what has been said. Mustang sighs as Ed just stares, Al getting more and more frustrated by the second.

"Uhm," Edward speaks awkwardly, tilting his head to one side, as if trying to study Alphonse closer. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Al doesn't know what to say. What was he supposed to say? His brother, the only family he had, has forgotten him.


	5. Chapter 5

"_All this time, I was always near you. Yet... I forgot what your skin feels like. And how you smell." ~Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**Either way, it's not like I can leave.**

Chapter Five: Brother...

"He came back with no memory as to why he is here, or who any of us are. He claims to be 11 years old. Alphonse... what's going on with all this?"

Al looks at Mustang sorrowfully, feeling as if he had been strangled from the inside. Well, his soul felt that way, anyways. How could he have just let Ed leave like that? He may not know what was going on, but he knew what information Mustang would find useful.

"W-well, we did the t-taboo when he was 11," Al explains shakily. It was still hard for him to talk about this. "And he keeps saying how he w-wishes to have forgotten doing i-it..."

Mustang's eyes turn to dark pools, his face holding a very serious expression. "The Alternative," he whispers, seeming so dark and grim, and so unlike himself. "Your brother... he must have done the Alternative." Al stares at the Colonel, confused.

"What's the Alternative?" he asks curiously, tilting his helmet for effect. "Some kind of alchemy? Or what?"

"Oh, it's alchemy alright," Mustang murmurs darkly. Then, he began to explain precisely what the awful practice was. What it resulted in. Everything.

The Alternative is alchemy that has to do with a person's soul, therefore making it fall beneath the category of Human Alchemy. Because Edward has had experience with bonding, and working with human souls, he was able to maim his soul enough so that he could forget. He had forgotten about the taboo, and everything that has happened afterwards.

The Alternative could be considered a worse taboo than Human Transmutation. Nobody knows how to fix it, or rather, the people who have done it cannot even remember their names. Mustang explained how Ed was lucky, that it didn't obliterate everything he's ever known, but that didn't stop Al's readiness to cry.

"H-he won't know who I am." Al was absolutely mortified. "He... he forgot... everything. I... I can't..." He was shaking slightly, armor subtly clicking softly. He has never been more scared in his entire life. He didn't have a big brother to look out for him anymore, as of now. But Mustang, as always, was ordered by the military to ask something so insensitve, anyone would want to kill him.

"As Elric does not have any memory as to how he is now enrolled as a State Alchemist, we ask that you take his place." Mustang holds out the slightly worn pocket watch for Alphonse to take, but, he hesitated. Assessing the situation with caution.

_Maybe... if I accept... maybe I can get Brother's memories back..._

Alphonse snatches the watch as soon as that thought reached his head, and Mustang sighs.

He didn't wish to bring the younger brother into the Amestrian Military, but what else could he have done? Things are all just desperate at this point.

Al frowns at the slightly jammed lock, and brushes it with his metal finger. The watch springs open, and he stares at the words engraved on the inside. Words that made him want nothing more, than to stop time, and change everything.

_Don't Forget, _

_Oct-3-11._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Please

Edward was tired. He didn't even object to going home with Alphonse, who was a complete stranger to him now. Al tucked his brother in like a parent would, and watched sadly as the smaller boy fell asleep.

Al's heart was aching. Yes, he could feel that much at least. Anyone could. He'd lost his only familiy, who now doesn't remember one ordeal that they have went through with each other.

Ed and Al were always seen together. _Always. _Some people would even go so far as to call them inseperable. No matter what, they did not leave each other's sides. School, store, wherever. Conditions were always the same.

But now, Edward surely could no longer recognize the armored Alphonse. Al was upset about that, but he managed to scrape by the next few days. Edward was already beginning to become more lively once more, anyways. Maybe clearing his mind was the best for him. There's always a price, after all. One's memories, for their own happiness.

"Mr Alphonse?" Ed walks in Al's room with cautious, hesitant feet, and sees the younger boy reading alchemy books. Al was able to get the books from the restricted section, due to his new Statehood. "I'm sorry, I was just wondering. We aren't in Resembool... are we."

Al quickly gets over the respectful manner and tone of voice that Ed was using, and recovers enough to answer accordingly. "No, we are in Central. We uh... moved you to the hospital here, after 'the accident.'"

The accident was a story that Alphonse has made, so that Edward would not be completely lost. He told him that Ed got in a train accident, losing his limbs and going into a coma for 4 years. That explains how he was now 15, and without an arm and leg. Al also said that Ed's brother, (his own self), had died in the crash. Ed still didn't know Al was his real brother.

It was painful to tell so much lies. But Al just didn't want Ed to hurt like before, ever again. In fact, Al didn't want anybody to go through the pain he was going through right now. Especially his cluless, memory-deprived older brother.

"Maybe, do you think, we'd be able to visit real quick?" Ed asks innocently, golden eyes wide with child-like purity. Al was completely taken off guard at the sight of his face. That was a look that he had not seen on his brother in years.

Maybe it was the freedom of living the Alternative.

Al couldn't say no. He had way too much heart to do so. "Alright, I suppose we can visit for a short time," he agrees.

_Winry will have to find out sooner or later._


	7. Chapter 7

"_What's gone, is forever lost. Now all we can do is live." ~Edward Elric (Vic Mignogna), Brothers (aka a Fullmetal Alchemist song)_

**This blame, it's been weighing me down. What about a break?**

Chapter Seven: And How to Forget, and Forgive?

Al normally loved train rides. This time, though, he was nervous all the way down. Ed claimed that this brought back bad memories. You know, the memories he never had. Alphonse said nothing in reply.

"Mr Alphonse?"

Al glances over at his older, unknowing brother. He stares at his reflection through Ed's glossy golden eyes, and sighs. "You know? Just call me Al." Edward's face lights up happily.

"Okay! And you can call me Ed!" he declares, with more content than he's shown in so many years. Al wants to cry. But Ed was so happy looking, that he couldn't.

Not when he saw such a huge smile on Edward's face.

"Alright, Al," Edward beams, trying out the new alias with glee. Al almost chokes up. Was this what it was like to have someone look up to you? Strange, and sad, that it was his older brother doing so. "Are you from Resembool, too?"

"Yes," Al replies softly. "I haven't been back home in so long..." He sighs to himself once more, rambling on rather than talking directly. "I bet it's still beautiful, as always."

The two remain silent for the rest of the train ride. Ed acted like a child, so happy and pure-hearted. No weight on his shoulders. Al just sat, and thought.

_Brother... please._

_I need you to be older._

_I need you to remember me._

_This is hurting me so very bad... the one thing I can feel._

_Please..._

Ed had fallen asleep by the time they had arrived to Resembool. Alphonse didn't know what else to do, so he awkwardly picks up the small boy and cradles him gently. Trying his best not to stab him with his armored spikes. He walks to Winry's house, with growing anxiety.

The yellow house was just up ahead. Lights danced around in the window panes, flickering with their old-aged batteries. Al glances around at the dark setting, then down at the sleeping boy resting in his metal arms. Edward seemed so at peace.

Winry throws open the door at the loud sounds of Al's armored footsteps. She had this gleam in her eyes, at the sight of Ed. She believed that he had returned, better and healed from his downward spiral. She believed that he was back to love her again. To touch her soft hands.

Unfortunately, Al had other news to tell.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: But What About Love?

"You really have forgotten that much, then?"

Winry's voice and composure were exactly the same. Depressed. Meloncholy. Disappointed. She was even ready to cry already. (no surprise there)

"Whoa, Winry," Ed exclaims, eyes full of concern. "There's no need to cry! Man, you get all teary eyed over everything, don't you!" Winry sniffs pathetically in reply, trying to keep her tears and runny nose under control.

"There's just so much to remember," she whispers softly. "And it's just... gone. Just like that." Ed sighs, and lays back in the grass. Winry fixes her eyes on whatever was beyond the horizon.

"I just can't believe Al's gone."

Winry took a moment to remember the back story Al had told her to stick with. She didn't think it was fair, to just cover things up that way. But, like Al... she just didn't want Ed to suffer.

"Hey, so do you still do alchemy?" Winry was quick to change the topic, and Ed gives her a funny look.

"Of course I am!" he exclaims, sounding almost outraged. "When will I ever stop doing alchemy?" Winry shrugs, then begins to pull out clumps of grass from the ground. Something she's done since childhood.

_If he can't remember, _she thinks to herself sadly. _Then he couldn't possibly remember loving me._

Of course, Winry never did consider the fact that Ed has loved her far before the taboo. He was just too embarrassed to admit it.

"_All I saw, were their backs in the distance. Then, just like that, they were gone." ~Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**Normality. That's all I want!**


	9. Chapter 9

"_After all those years, I never beat that tin can once!" ~Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**This. This is what I want to go back to, Brother.**

Al was mulling over thoughts by the lake, silently starting into the cool waters. His blank-mask expression stares right back at him, reflected by the warped surface of the lake. It twisted his image. It made him look evil.

"Hey, hey Al!" Ed rushes up and plops beside the boy, a large smile on his face. "You wanna spar meh?"

Al looks over his shoulder in surprise. He hadn't sparred with his brother in a long time. "Sure," he decides. Then, he smiles evilly to himself.

_He probably doesn't remember that I always win._

The two sparred and sparred. The sun was setting, but they did not notice. Edward was getting frustrated with his many losses, Alphonse cocky with all his wins.

"IMMA KILL YOU!"

"Winners never die~!"

And that was something, at least. A moment where they acted like brothers again at last. A pure joy. Something that Al needed, to get that boost of inspiration.

He was going to get his brother back.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: This was Fun and All, But...

Leaving Resembool was a situation that the brothers have experienced countless of times. The sad, waving Winry. The beautiful countryside, disappearing in a simple mist in surroundings. It was something that could dampen anyone's spirits.

But, Forgetful Edward was always happy. He eve said something on the train, about loving to travel. That was a part of the old Ed, that never must've disappeared. It was enough to give Alphonse hope. A small amount, yet, it was hope all the same.

"Hey, Al?" Edward stares from across the booth with sharp intent. That much could be told with a simple look in his eyes. "I just... I couldn't see the roof of my house, from Winry's. I was too scared to check it out..."

"Oh." The finality was very clear in Al's voice, and Edward heard it. He shut up, and decided to take a nap.

Poems were always a nice substitution for sleeping. Al had books filled with them, each page covered in his neat writing. He was sure to bring them everywhere.

That was how important emotions were to him. He believed that it was the smallest of things, that made him truly human.

This time, he wrote about regret. Things that Edward previously went through, before the Alternative overtook what used to be his life. Al considered himself to be a writer. He took an emotion, and let his hand speak for his gentle metal heart.

"Whatcha writin?" Edward asks groggily, startling the unknowing Alphonse. He didn't know that Ed had awoken from his small nap, but something in the change of sunlight told him otherwise.

"Just... things," Al answers vaguely. Ed raises his eyebrows skeptically. He could tell, that there was something... off, about Al's voice.

"Hey... why do you always wear that armor everywhere?"

"I... dunno." Al replies slowly, unsure of what he was supposed to say. "Cause I wanna, I guess?" Edward was obviously unsatisfied with that reply. He furrows his brows stubbornly, like a child. Everything about him was childish lately. Al finally acknowledges Ed. "I dun wanna talk about it."

"Moody!" Edward teases. Al laughs lightly. Fake. Ed frowns, as if somehow sensing that. Things may have changed, but it seems as if he could still read Alphonse like a book.

"You remind my of my brother," Ed sighs, sounding almost completely shattered on the inside. He bought into the lies, remember? He really believed his little brother to be dead. Al almost jumps out of the window, out of his pure guilt.

"Al...?" Edward glances at the Armor Boy, eyes huge and wide. Reflecting Al's helmeted face in their large gold orbs. "Al... can I call you Brother?"

"_I can't just be sitting here all this time. It's useless." ~Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**Go head, watch. The tears won't come, you know.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: The Tears that Never Came

"_I believe in my brother, and I believe in alchemy! To regret my form now is to stop believing in my brother... and I don't want to do that!" ~Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)_

**What am I supposed to do, now?**

Overflow.

Gushing with the unfamiliarity of a crul, harshly-lived life.

Watch closely, maybe you can see them.

Maybe you can tell they've shed away.

New ones will always replace them, the tears that never came.

Keep watching my dear,

Be patient and wait.

I hope you can see, the tears that never came.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: I Want to Be Young, Again

Sweet, was the luxury of ignorance. A child's most natural gift. Being able to continue on, no conditions made. To be young, was to truly be happy.

Ed was lucky enough to be young again. Al was forced into growing up, to look out for his anesthetic older brother. The roles have been switched, and honestly, it was awful.

Both were confused. Neither really knew why things happened the way they did. It was heart-wrenching, still, for Al to remember how Ed doesn't know that he is his younger brother. That he should be the one leaning on Ed, not the other way around.

"Brother?" Ed yawns. Al feel sthat familiar pang, somewhere in his soul. "I'm...tired." Ed yawns again, eyes bleary.

"Go to sleep," Al permits. Ed curls up, and falls asleep happily. There was a smile, still planted on his softened features. He always seemed much more vulnerable while he was asleep.

_I was just like this,_ Al thinks longingly. He really did miss being able to lean on someone. To have faith without conditions made. He missed it terribly. _I...really want my brother back._

Suddenly, and idea popped into his head. A reckless idea, yes. But it was always better than nothing. Always.


	13. Chapter 13

"_I promise you, there is nothing I won't give!" ~Edward Elric (Vic Mignogna) (Fullmetal Alchemist, aka Nothing I Won't Give (song))_

**What I would Give, just For You to Come Back... it's more Than you Would Ever give for me, isn't it?**

Chapter Thirteen: Some Things are Better Left Undone... huh?

Equivalency. A law that was always there. A law that could make anything work. That was it. That was _always _it.

Maybe, just maybe, a body would be worth someone's memories. Maybe, if Al never did get his body back, Truth would finally be satisfied. Maybe Truth would finally give back Ed's memories, and leave the boys alone.

Think about it. Truth could have his body for keeps this time, so to speak, and just return plain and simple memories.

Confined in armor, for the rest of an immortal life. That, was worth it to Alphonse. Something he would be willing to sacrifice the entire time. He never did find his own body as important as Ed did, anyways. What could be so bad?

The only problem was, when on earth would Al find the time to perform such a heretic transmutation? He took the State Alchemist title, if you remember. They could be watching him at any time, couldn't they? What was he to do?

Al quickly shoves his alchemy books beneath his bed, as he heard those instantly recognziable footsteps against the wooden floor. Ed stares at Al from the doorframe, still seeming so dwarfed.

"Empty," Ed states simply. "I've been thinking about it, and decided that... you're empty." Al just stares at him from his position on the bed, until suddenly, "**Lemme see your blood seal! **_**Please?!**_"

Al stares at Ed for just a moment longer. Then, he comes to realize something. A conclusion that was so obvious, and so easy... it would've wasted every tear from all of that time crying.

The Alternative had to do with Soul Alchemy. Al's seal was the first form of Soul Alchemy that Edward had ever done himself. Peice things together.

How could it have been more obvious?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Ed is Back!

Al slowly lifts his helmet from his armor. Ed slowly peeps inside. As soon as his eyes fixed themselves upon the blood seal, he was stuck. As if genuinely perplexed.

Suddenly, his innocent golden eyes harden. He looks much more determined. He looks at Al, then suddenly, he snaps out of his trance.

"Oh my gosh..." he breathes, apparently in shock. He glances around the room, then slowly touches a hand to his sweaty forehead. His blonde bangs brush against his metal wrist. It was all coming back to him now.

"B-brother?" Al speaks gingerly, setting his helmet back on his shoulder. Ed was soon completely Ed again. At last.

"Yes, Al," he speaks softly, each word uttered seeming to tickle like gentle little feathers. "I'm back."

_The End_


	15. Epilogue

**So in the end, dear brother of mine, we figured things out. It was easy to see that you didn't choose your happiness over family. That much was clear, when you stared into my soul, and found your way out of darkness. And I thank you. So much.**

Epilogue

Wide golden-brown eyes sweep across the horizon, feeling the wind for the first time in so long. They glance over at their companion, happiness being extremely obvious at this point.

"Whatchya think, Al?" Ed grins, patting his fully restored brother on the back. Al beams. A smile that was clearly seen, at last.

"I think I can get used to this," he exclaims, rumpling his idark blonde hair. "What about you, Mr Father to Be?"

Edward smiles at the reminder. He just found out this morning, that Winry was bearing his first child. It made him happy inside to think about being a dad. For sure, he would give his child much more than his own father gave him.

"It's gonna be interesting," he admits, nodding his head slightly. "And I'm terrified. But, you're gonna be an amazing uncle for sure."

"And you're gonna be the best dad in the world," Al retorts, a light smirk gracing his features. Ed laughs slightly, then sighs, all laugh lines disappearing for a moment.

"Al? Remember when I chose the Alternative over family?"

Al sighs sadly at the memories of the worst time of his life. It was far worse than losing his body, for it was the time where he lost his brother. "Of course I do. I'll never really be able to forget that, Brother." He looked so serious.

"Well, I'm never going to do that again," Ed decides with finality. Al's smirk returns, this time more noticable. Flames of mirth dance in his eyes.

"Oh really? What made you decide this?" Al had a slight teasing aura about him, but Ed seemed to be taking everything straight to heart.

"The family I have right now," he speaks firmly. Al's smirk softens to a forlorn smile, and he gazes at the blazing sunset.

"Hey Ed?"

"Yeah?"

Al has this gentle look in his eyes. He looked exactly as his mother did, might I add, with that same passion for family. He would always honor his family. To the very end.

"You can _always _call me Brother."


End file.
